Wanted! River Island navy polka dot pencil skirt

Got £22 and the need to pep up your closet with a little something new? Maybe something with a fun print and an easy-to-wear shape? Well, our officers tracked down this little River Island tube skirt a couple of weeks ago, and we figured it was time to share it with the rest of you: it’s cheap, it’s cheerful, and it’s the kind of skirt you’ll be able to wear in lots of different ways. Our old friends at ASOS, for instance, have gone for a sporty kinda look, with sneakers and a crop top:

Although we’re not big fans of either sneakers or pattern-mixing (although, if patterns absolutely MUST be mixed, spots and stripes are one of the easiest two patterns to do it with), we actually don’t hate this nearly as much as you might expect of us, and although we’re smart enough not to attempt to pull it off ourselves, we think it’s kinda cute. You know, on OTHER people.

Oh, who are we kidding with the “probably”? We’ll ALWAYS go for the dressier option, and we’re sure you all know that by now. With this look, we’ve kept the crop top, which we think works well with a high-waisted skirt, but we’ve gone for a slightly longer version than ASOS chose, so you don’t have to expose too much of your midriff if you don’t want to. If you are worried about flashing too much flesh in a crop top, though, you can always a) wear a longer top – duh! or b) fill in some of the gap with a wide waist belt.

Or you could always go for the trendier option, with ankle boots and slouchy sweater: